Tuesday, January 05, 2010

I was going to warn potential readers of the graphic novel that they may want to pick up the non-illustrated version first, but Geoff Bucher puts it perfectly in the LA Times.

MartinScorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio and Paramount Pictures are bringing “Shutter Island” to the screen (finally) on Feb. 19 and a discerning consumer of culture might reasonably ask if it’s worth investing his or her time in a novel, a graphic novel and a film version of the same tale. The answer, so far, appears to be a resounding “yes.” One word of warning, however: The ending of “Shutter Island” is so jolting that any second-time encounter with the material (no matter the medium) will have a hard time matching the payoff of the first visit to the island. Choose your nightmares carefully.

The novel is the probably the fastest read Lehane has produced. It is almost as if he wanted to do the ultimate stay up all night thriller before staring in on the gigantic brooding, seething The Given Day.

2 comments:

Thanks for posting this, I haven't heard. I have heard about the movie though but can't quite imagine Leonardo DiCaprio in the role... hope they won't ruin it. I love the ending of this book! I agree though once you know the ending, it takes away the surprise (kinda like The Sixth Sense.)

I love the ending too. I wouldn't mind if they change it a bit for the movie, so we readers are surprised and movie watchers can get surprised by the book. That is probably hoping for too much of course.